SUPERGEN Excitonic Solar Cell Consortium - MAIN CORE
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: Chemistry
Abstract
Excitonic Solar Cells (ESCs) are a class of non-conventional solar cells, based on organic and nanostructured materials, in which the charge carriers are generated and simultaneously separated across a heterointerface. They include dye-sensitized nanocrystalline cells, organic cells and hybrid organic-inorganic cells, and in all cases cell fabrication can be achieved using low cost, large area deposition methods on both rigid and flexible substrates. Consequently, ESCs offer genuine medium to long term prospects for reducing the cost of PV below the commercially important threshold of $1 per watt peak. To date work on all types of ESC has been largely restricted to basic studies in academic and national research laboratories, with particular emphasis on improving device understanding and cell efficiency, which are 11% for state of the art dye cells, and much lower for the less well developed organic (4-5%) and hybrid cells (2-3%). However, progress in all types of ESC has undoubtedly been impressive in recent years, with research activity growing rapidly throughout the world. Major improvements in performance have been demonstrated in all cell types with the SUPERGEN Consortium at the forefront of much of this progress. There have also been initial steps to commercialise some ESCs, with the first manufacturing plant to produce dye sensitised cells opening in the UK in 2007. However, much fundamental research still needs to be carried out, in particular on the less well developed organic and hybrid cells, but also on the more mature dye cells where many important challenges must be addressed to enable future successful commercialisation. The UK is in an excellent position to lead this activity in an emerging area of PV technology and renewed SUPERGEN funding will enable the Consortium to remain at the forefront of innovative research, while exploiting its strong connections to a number of relevant commercial organisations.Our proposed Main Core programme builds on the successes of our first SUPERGEN project which benefited strongly from the integration of expertise and knowledge in the two main areas of excitonic solar cells, namely dye sensitised cells and organic cells. We will continue to promote cross-fertilisation of ideas for optimising existing cell types and for innovating new types of cells, with the overall aim of improving the performance of different types of ESC. Training will remain a key priority for the Consortium and the exchange of PDRAs and PhD students between the partner universities will ensure the highest quality multi-disciplinary research environment. The UK has a very strong international position in research into ESCs and the renewal of the SUPERGEN programme will help ensure it remains both competitive and innovative in future years.
Organisations
Publications
Agostinelli T
(2011)
The role of alkane dithiols in controlling polymer crystallization in small band gap polymer:Fullerene solar cells
in Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics
Bailey J
(2014)
Understanding the role of ultra-thin polymeric interlayers in improving efficiency of polymer light emitting diodes
in Journal of Applied Physics
Bannock J
(2012)
Continuous Synthesis of Device-Grade Semiconducting Polymers in Droplet-Based Microreactors
in Advanced Functional Materials
Bannock J
(2014)
Controlled synthesis of conjugated random copolymers in a droplet-based microreactor
in Mater. Horiz.
Bansal N
(2013)
Influence of crystallinity and energetics on charge separation in polymer-inorganic nanocomposite films for solar cells.
in Scientific reports
Bansal N
(2013)
Solution Processed Polymer-Inorganic Semiconductor Solar Cells Employing Sb 2 S 3 as a Light Harvesting and Electron Transporting Material
in Advanced Energy Materials
Beatrup D
(2014)
Polaron stability in semiconducting polymer neat films.
in Chemical communications (Cambridge, England)
Beaumont N
(2014)
Acceptor Properties of Boron Subphthalocyanines in Fullerene Free Photovoltaics
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Beaumont N
(2011)
Boron Subphthalocyanine Chloride as an Electron Acceptor for High-Voltage Fullerene-Free Organic Photovoltaics
in Advanced Functional Materials
Beaumont N
(2011)
Increased efficiency in small molecule organic photovoltaic cells through electrode modification with self-assembled monolayers
in Energy & Environmental Science
Brenner T
(2012)
White-light bias external quantum efficiency measurements of standard and inverted P3HT : PCBM photovoltaic cells
in Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics
Brenner T
(2011)
Phase-Dependent Photocurrent Generation in Polymer/Fullerene Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Bruno A
(2013)
Determining the Exciton Diffusion Length in a Polyfluorene from Ultrafast Fluorescence Measurements of Polymer/Fullerene Blend Films
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Cappel UB
(2013)
Charge Generation Dynamics in CdS:P3HT Blends for Hybrid Solar Cells.
in The journal of physical chemistry letters
Chauhan K
(2010)
Efficient Organic Photovoltaic Cells through Structural Modification of Chloroaluminum Phthalocyanine/Fullerene Heterojunctions
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Chauhan V
(2010)
Elucidating the factors that determine the open circuit voltage in discrete heterojunction organic photovoltaic cells
in J. Mater. Chem.
Cho S
(2010)
Electronic Structure of C 60 /Phthalocyanine/ITO Interfaces Studied using Soft X-ray Spectroscopies
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Cho S
(2010)
Soft X-ray Spectroscopy of C 60 /Copper Phthalocyanine/MoO 3 Interfaces: Role of Reduced MoO 3 on Energetic Band Alignment and Improved Performance
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Cho S
(2012)
Probing the effect of relative molecular orientation on the photovoltaic device performance of an organic bilayer heterojunction using soft x-ray spectroscopies
in Applied Physics Letters
Collins B
(2011)
Fullerene-Dependent Miscibility in the Silole-Containing Copolymer PSBTBT-08
in Macromolecules
Collins B
(2012)
Absolute Measurement of Domain Composition and Nanoscale Size Distribution Explains Performance in PTB7:PC 71 BM Solar Cells
in Advanced Energy Materials
Dalgleish S
(2011)
Indole-substituted nickel dithiolene complexes in electronic and optoelectronic devices
in Journal of Materials Chemistry
Dattani R
(2014)
A general mechanism for controlling thin film structures in all-conjugated block copolymer:fullerene blends
in J. Mater. Chem. A
Dimitrov S
(2014)
Towards optimisation of photocurrent from fullerene excitons in organic solar cells
in Energy & Environmental Science